Life Together
by Maaya
Summary: Discontinued. Five students, all strangers to one another, decide to share an apartment in loss of other places to stay. A story that revolves around life, friendship and love. 1x2, 3x4 and 5xM
1. Part 1

Title: Life together  
  
Author: Maaya shinigami_heart@hotmail.com  
  
Summary: Five students, all strangers to one another, decide to share an apartment in loss of other places to stay. A beguiling story that revolves around life, friendship and love. 1x2, 3x4 and 5xM  
  
Archived: http://dragonball-diaries.150m.com/ (Thanks Deb!)  
  
Genre: Romance, General, AU, Drama, slight humor. Maybe more too, but this are the basic categories.  
  
Warnings: OOC, OCs (but they won't be any kind of main-characters), Shounen Ai, Maybe slight bashing on characters, but I don't think it is all that much. The OOC-warning is mostly because the guys have lived a life without war, they should be at least a little different.  
  
Rating: I think it is PG-13. I may change it to R later but it is very unsure. Very, very unsure!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Gundam Wing. Some people, like Norma and Mari, though, are mine.  
  
Notes: This is just the teaser/prologue, but I know that I'll update. It will take time though, because this is just an idea of mine. I need to plan and develop this further before continuing and I need to know if there are people interested in my idea. I don't think I've seen it somewhere else, but it is possible that there already is another fan fiction with the same idea, but in that case, I haven't read it. This is mine, and only mine idea! ^_^ Anyway, I must finish/almost finish "One way ticket" or "Enemies, or?" before continuing this, so like I said, It'll take time to get more chapters up. If I get many reviews, I'll write faster though - but I don't think the prologue is all that interesting. *sigh*  
  
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Life together - Teaser/ Prologue/Part 1  
  
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It was a cold day; in the middle of an early and therefore, long winter. The sun had already set even though the clock hadn't read three yet; and still you could only see a thin streak of the bright star as it went to rest behind the grey silhouettes of houses.  
  
A young boy, no more than eighteen years old, wandered down the ice-glazed road towards a big house, with seemingly three stories. The boy dug in one of his many pockets, then pulled out a creased paper with the number '17' written on it with a neat handwriting. The cold hand, still holding the piece of paper, ascended to the forehead and stroked the chocolate brown bangs out of the boy's blue eyes. When the hand lowered again, he breathed on it as if to warm it, then rested his poor body-part in one of the pockets not long after to keep it as hot as possible. The other hand that holding a brown suitcase was also identically cold as the other; almost an ashen white in its color, if truth be told.  
  
The boy, that was named Heero, looked at the number on the house marked 17, then down on the slip of paper again as if to dare it to have changed the number to eighteen instead. Relived to see that it hadn't, he walked up the three steps to stand on the red-painted porch. Just as he was on his way to ring at the door-bell, he was stopped by a voice, shouting.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
Heero was surprised enough to drop the suitcase, and thus, it fell down on the wooden porch with a loud thump. Luckily, it didn't fell open, and without glancing at the one who had shouted, he bent down to pick it up again.  
  
"Oh, sorry, did I scare ya?"  
  
Heero lifted his head and glared at the source of the voice, the glare saying 'no, you didn't scare me, just caught me by surprise, you idiot.' He said, "Hn." and looked the other boy over. He was rather short- shorter than Heero -and clad in black from head to toe. The most prominent feature was probably the long, chestnut braid of hair that was pulled around the boy's neck like a scarf in lack of anything else to keep that part of his body warm. The second most prominent feature was the pair of wide, bluish- violet eyes which were sparkling with laughter, probably directed at Heero. The shorthaired boy didn't like that last fact at all.  
  
"Hn?" the boy mimicked. "Is that even English? Maybe you're from Spain? Or Norway?" The boy started speaking slower and clearer, as if he was talking to a very young baby, or maybe a foreigner. "Do you understand what I'm saying? Should I speak slower? Hellooo?"  
  
Heero snorted. "Idiot."  
  
"Oh, you can speak English at least." The boy joked.  
  
"Who are you?" Heero asked and silently cursed the braided boy's idiocy.  
  
The braided boy let go of his own suitcase in a hurry (it thumped on the porch, just like Heero's had done) and held out his right hand towards Heero. "Duo, Duo Maxwell. Nice to meetcha!"  
  
Heero shook the cold hand. "Heero Yuy."  
  
"Japanese?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Your English is kinda good."  
  
Heero shrugged. "You're not one of the tenants.. are you?" he asked, and hoped that the answer would be no. This boy would drive him crazy in an hour.  
  
"Yes, you're one too?"  
  
Heero nodded again, but inwardly he groaned.  
  
"That's great! Uhh, you were going to ring at the door-bell, weren't you?" Duo pointed at the small button.  
  
Heero nodded for a third time before pressing his index-finger firmly against the white button. They could both hear a muffled ting-a-ling, and then someone who were moving towards the door. A moment later, the door opened and an old lady peeked outside. As she saw them standing there, she smiled and stepped out in the cold. "Ahh, you're the tenants!" she exclaimed.  
  
Both boys looked her over. A short lady, probably around her sixties, with grey hair in curls and the skin in her face was wrinkled. She smiled invitingly and held out her hand for them to shake. "I'm Norma Clape, the owner of this house. Come in, dears, come in!" She gesticulated with the hand wildly, making it impossible for the boys to shake it. Instead, they did as she said, and entered the warm house.  
  
They found themselves standing in a small room with two doors. Behind them, Norma pressed herself inside, barely succeeding because of the lack of space in the while-painted hall. She closed the door behind her. "The door to the right is yours, I live in the left. Go on, I've made you some coffee." She gesticulated wildly again and Heero guessed that she meant for them to open 'her' door. Duo beat him doing it though, but before he had time to scowl at the grin on the braided boy's face, the door swung open and they stepped out into a kitchen.  
  
It was a square-shaped room, with a square-shaped table in the centre. Nothing surprising. Something that surprised Heero though, was that another boy was already sitting in a comfortable chair by the table, drinking from a big cup with something that smelled like coffee. The boy seemed to be of Chinese origin, and he had black hair, barely long enough to be pulled into a tight ponytail.  
  
Obsidian eyes looked up at them as they entered, and the boy stood up and came over to greet them. Norma smiled lovingly towards him, and then turned her head to look at Heero and Duo. "This is my other tenant; he arrived an hour ago. His name is Wufei Chang."  
  
Wufei nodded and glanced towards Norma. "I prefer Chang Wufei, Mrs. Clape."  
  
"Oh yes, and I prefer Norma."  
  
Heero heard Duo giggle beside him, but ignored it. "My name is Heero Yuy, pleased to meet you."  
  
"And I'm Duo Maxwell."  
  
Wufei nodded politely and Norma asked them to sit down, completely forgetting that both boys were still dressed in their coats. Duo spoke up.  
  
"Umm, Norma.. I mean.. Mrs. Clape, where should we hang our clothes?" He asked politely and looked around in the kitchen, as if he expected to see more coats hanging somewhere.  
  
The old woman smiled at him. "Please call me Norma, dear. As for your outdoor clothes, hang them in the other room." She looked pointedly at another door.  
  
"I'll call you Norma on one condition."  
  
"What, dear?"  
  
Duo wrinkled his nose before replying. "Please call me Duo instead of 'dear'."  
  
Norma's ringing laughter followed the violet eyed boy as he stepped into the other room, the braid whipping from side to side as he walked. Heero quickly followed him, but walked with a lot less enthusiasm.  
  
They found themselves in a small bedroom, and with another coat (probably Wufei's) laying on the bed. They laid their own coats on the bed, and without words, walked out in the kitchen again. Heero noticed that Duo wore all-black clothes, and was a lot thinner than expected. He was 'very' thin actually. He decided to ignore it and he sat down when Norma asked them to. Duo sat down to his left.  
  
Norma poured out coffee to them in big cups that were painted in different colors. Norma had given Heero an dark green and Duo a black one. Wufei were currently drinking out of a grey, and Heero saw him grimace slightly at something - hopefully not the taste.  
  
Frowning at the bad augury, he took a sip himself.. and almost choked. The coffee were exaggeratedly strong, and Heero found himself wondering if you could loose taste-buds in old age, because Norma calmly sipped her coffee as she talked with a cheerful Duo about the 'horrible weather'.  
  
Duo didn't seem to have tasted the black liquid yet, and Heero watched with interest as he lifted the cup- which was as black as the awful coffee was -to his lip and took at sip of his own and.. smiled.  
  
Heero was dumbfounded.  
  
The braided boy took another sip, bit down on his cookie, and continued to talk with his landlady about various things.  
  
From the look of things, Wufei was dumbfounded too, his teeth stopping in the air just before they met the chocolate-cookie he held in his right hand. He laid the cookie down on the table and glared at it, as if it had offended him somehow.  
  
"..please tell me again, why did you agree to share an apartment with people you don't know?"  
  
Norma's voice interrupted Heero's observations, and he listened as Duo answered.  
  
"Well, you see, I've got a job here in town, and I need someplace to live. This town is too small; I couldn't find another cheap, unoccupied apartment this fast. Besides," Duo grinned. "I'd like some company."  
  
Norma gasped. "A job, already? You can't be more that seventeen!" she exclaimed in shock, and frowned when Duo shrugged.  
  
"Actually, I'm sixteen." Heero saw that Duo was fiddling with the end of his braid under the table. "And, I kinda.. need the money." The boy blushed. "I'm still going to school, though."  
  
The old lady seemed to notice Duo's discomfort, because she changed the subject. "As I told you when you called, there are five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room upstairs. The rooms are fully furnished, but if there is something you don't like or want to replace with your own things, just place it in the attic. There is no need to tell me, I don't use anything up there anyway. I believe that you've all paid for this month, yes?"  
  
She looked around with satisfaction as the three boys nodded. Wufei frowned though.  
  
"Why are you telling us this? Shouldn't we wait until the others arrive?"  
  
Norma's eyes widened. "Oh, dear. Haven't I told you?"  
  
She took in the blank looks on their faces before continuing. "The other two will arrive tomorrow. I know you haven't chosen who'll have which room, so I'd recommend you not to settle down anywhere, in case they want to be able to choose too. That'll prevent arguments."  
  
Heero nodded slightly.  
  
After that, their conversation took off in various subjects, few of which Heero found interesting enough to participate in, until they started speaking about each other's background. Norma had been a teacher before she retired.  
  
Duo told them that he was adopted when he was younger, and had lived together with his new mother and father for a while. When his father died though, they had been in need of money, and that was why he needed to work now- at the mere age of sixteen.  
  
Wufei was sent from China to meet his future wife. (Duo choked on his coffee as he heard this.) Wufei had never met her, but he knew that her name was Meiran. He was supposed to stay in America for one or two years, studying before they both would return to China and marry. Heero noticed that Wufei didn't sound too happy about the marriage but he avoided commenting.  
  
Heero himself told them about moving from Japan to America together with his sister after his parents' sudden deaths in a car-accident. He cursed silently as he saw sympathy in the others' eyes.  
  
After his statement, it got quiet for a moment before Duo spoke up. "Are you going to work too?"  
  
"No, I've got a lot of money after my parents' deaths. I don't need to work, at least not until I've finished school."  
  
Duo shrugged, and the room got quiet once again, until Norma stood up and searched in a pocket. A moment later, she handed them each a key. "This is the key to the house. Now, go up and inspect your rooms." She shooed them away with her hands and they did as they were told.  
  
Their apartment seemed nice enough, with a big living room just up the stairs. From the room there were seven doors, leading to bedrooms, kitchen and a bathroom. There was a slight confusion for a while when no one could find the second bathroom, but finally Duo found it. It was inside a door in one of the bedrooms, a door that they had believed was leading to a wardrobe.  
  
The boys each choose a bedroom; Heero was about to inspect his bed, when he heard the door to his room being opened. He looked up in time to see Duo walking inside, with a slightly nervous look in his face. It confused the shorthaired boy slightly.  
  
"What?"  
  
The violet-eyed boy began fiddling with his braid again, and Heero realized that it had to be a gesture of nervousness from the other boy. "Well.. yeah.. you said that you were going home to pick some other things up, right?"  
  
Heero frowned. "When did I say this?"  
  
"While you talked about you're background. You said that you had lived with your sister and most of your things were still there."  
  
Heero couldn't find anything else to say than. "Hn?"  
  
Duo didn't seem to find it encouraging, because he laughed nervously. "Uhh, anyway.. you said that you had parked your car not long from here, right?"  
  
Heero nodded.  
  
"Well, that means that you're going to drive to wherever you lived before..." he paused for a mere quarter of a second before continuing once again. "...and so.. I was just wondering if you could give me a ride home too? It's not all that far from here." He gave Heero a pleading look. "Pretty please?"  
  
Somehow, Heero found it hard to resist that look, so he sighed and agreed. "Guess it can't be too much trouble..."  
  
Duo took it as a yes and he brightened. "Hey, thanks!"  
  
He turned around and walked out of the room quickly.  
  
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TBC..  
  
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Well, I need reviews if I'm gonna continue this.. so take the hint, please? There will be drama in this fic, believe it or not. Just give it a try 'kay? I'll probably make the following chapters slightly longer than this prologue.  
  
My beta-reader sailor c. ryoko wrote the summary, and of course, also beta- ed the fic. (Love ya!) 


	2. Part 2

Disclaimer: I don't own most of the characters, okay? I *do* own the plot in this story and some minor characters, but I don't think there's any need to tell you which people I own and don't own since this is a fan fiction. Most people who reads this have already seen Gundam Wing and knows who's in the series and not. Understood? Good, here's a cookie!  
  
Archived: ff.net and mediaminer.org, but also at http://dragonball- diaries.150m.com/ thanks to Debs!  
  
Author: Maaya  
  
Beta-reader: sailor c. ryoko  
  
Warnings, ratings etc are in the prologue.  
  
Notes: Geeze, I know I said that I wouldn't update this in a while, but I got a sudden muse and really had to write on this part. Don't ask me why. ^_^  
  
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Life together - Part 2  
  
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The sound of rain smattering against the window was heard by the two boys who were sitting by their new kitchen-table. Norma had been kind enough to give them a small amount of supplies for breakfast, and they could therefore relax on this rainy Sunday-morning. Wufei sat, comfortably leaned backwards in his chair, and with his feet on a small stool. In his left hand, he held a mug filled with aromatic, green tee, and in his right hand, a newspaper. He was throughout enjoying the repose this day of the week gave, and he felt completely relaxed. Everything was peace and quiet..  
  
Tap, tap, tap..  
  
Wufei looked up from the letters-to-the-editor column in the Sunday paper and shot an annoyed glare towards the source of the dull, annoying sound.  
  
Tap, tap, tap..  
  
The sound still didn't stop, and Wufei cleared his throat, slightly louder than necessary, trying to catch the attention of the one making the sound.  
  
Tap, tap, tap..  
  
The Chinese boy cleared his throat again, this time even louder, and he could feel his tonsils vibrate in the effort. To his irritation, the sound still didn't stop..  
  
Tap, tap, tap..  
  
"Yuy! Stop making that frustrating sound before I rip out your heart with that pencil of yours and boil it for lunch!" Wufei's try to be polite and patient with his new friend seemed to rip into a million of pieces, and Heero dropped the pencil he had been tapping against the table, before he looked up and met Wufei's black eyes. Black, annoyed eyes, that is.  
  
"What?"  
  
They could both hear as the pencil hit the floor, bounced twice, rolled slightly, and then settled itself under the table - the grey marking that said 'teacher's society' visible, which made it clear that someone had taken it from a school somewhere.  
  
There was a moment of silence before Wufei spoke up; his tone gave Heero a hint of how frustrated the Chinese man was with him. "Weren't you going to go home to wherever you come from, and take Maxwell with you?"  
  
Heero shrugged and leaned down to retrieve the pencil. When he sat up straight again, he answered, a disapproving frown in his face. "I haven't seen Duo this morning. I believe he has gone out for a while. He should have told me though - he seems irresponsible."  
  
"I think he's still sleeping." Wufei replied and ignored the comment about the braided boy being irresponsible. Heero figured that he was the type who didn't like to slander behind other peoples' backs. As he thought about this, it took a while before he realized what the black-haired boy just said.  
  
"Sleeping? It's half past eleven!"  
  
He stood up and stalked out of the room with big, fast steps. Wufei leaned back even more in his chair, took a sip from his tee-cup and resumed to read the letters-to-the-editor column in his beloved Sunday-paper. The last thought he offered about the other two tenants was 'idiots!'  
  
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Heero left the black-haired boy sitting by the table, and went out of the room in a hurry. He was annoyed, but wasn't sure if it was because of himself for agreeing to drive Duo home, if it was because of Duo for ever asking him to take him home and now sleeping in late, or if it was because of Wufei who had lost his temper. Not being able to decide the reason annoyed him even more; he was therefore upset that he was practically shaking with rage by the time he arrived at Duo's door. He pondered for a second about whether he should knock on the door or not. If truth be told, he really didn't want to, but at the same time he wanted to give the braided boy some privacy, if only to make a good impression as a fellow tenant.  
  
Heero felt like an angel when he finally decided to knock, but he wasn't received with an answer. This annoyed him a little and he knocked again, harder. When he still didn't have an answer, he took a deep breath before knocking once again, this time really hard.  
  
The only result was the pain in his knuckles, and a promise that he would have an impressing bruise on the hurting body-part tomorrow.  
  
Heero frowned and decided to enter, still rubbing the hurt knuckles. He opened the door slightly at first to see if the long-haired boy was up and changing garments or something, but when he saw that this was not the case, he opened the door fully.  
  
The room was dark. Only the faintest light from the rising sun had been able to shine into the room by the small streaks of the window that weren't covered by the dark-blue blinder. One of these thin streaks of sunlight shone directly at the bed, more precisely at the foot-end, and revealed a lump in the bed - covered with a worn blanket. One toe, which was peeking out from the cover, was bathing in the white light.  
  
Heero couldn't help but snort at the small toe that was the only part visible of the younger boy. The toe twitched once, as if it knew that Heero was glaring at it, and the brown-haired boy snorted once again at the sheer stupidity in that thought.  
  
Heero fumbled with his hand by the wall before he found what he was searching for. When he found it, he grinned, a scary, devilish grin, and decided to be merciless.  
  
Heero hit the small button he had found, and immediately, the room was bathing in an almost yellowish light coming from the old ceiling lamp.  
  
The short-haired by watched Duo with interest to see what his reaction would be..  
  
A groan came from the bed, but still, Heero was unprepared for the big, puffy pillow that flew straight into his face, making him fall backwards on his rump, not much because of the force from the thrower, but more because of his own utter surprise.  
  
Dizzily, he stared at Duo as the braided boy's head appeared from under the covers. Violet eyes, drowsy with sleep, glared at him, but the desired effect from the glare didn't come. Instead, Heero stood up again and pretended that nothing had happened; especially not that he had been decked with a pillow.  
  
"Get out.. too early.." Duo mumbled in a raspy morning-voice as he rubbed his eyes in a 'try-to-make-them-focus-easier' way. After a while, he gave up and yawned.  
  
"The clock is past eleven."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You should get ready."  
  
Duo yawned again as he sat up. He managed to catch the pillow Heero threw to him and he laid it back on the bed without saying anything. He stood up though, and made his way towards the bathroom, ignoring Heero.  
  
The short-haired boy glared after him and stalked out of Duo's room, brushing through his hair to see if it had been ruffled when his head connected with the pillow, then rubbed his poor knuckles. He went out in the kitchen again and decided to eat a second breakfast while waiting for Duo to be finished.  
  
At first, Heero didn't realize that something was wrong; he sat down in a chair by the table as usual and picked up the Sunday-paper that Wufei seemed to have left behind when he went wherever he know had gone. He didn't think much about it, but he got slightly annoyed to find Wufei's tee- cup still standing on the table, half full with a now cool, green tee. He snorted, stood up again, and placed the cup on the kitchen sink. He couldn't stand when it was messy; it gave him shivers and stressed him out. He desperately hoped that his fellow tenants weren't untidy.  
  
When that little fault had been taken care of, he settled down with the newspaper and relaxed in his chair.  
  
..Shake, shake, shake..  
  
Heero blinked in surprise as he felt the table shake under his elbows.  
  
..shake, shake, shake..  
  
He grabbed the edge of the table and shook it - to see if it was possible for it to shake, and yes, it wobbled on its unsteady table legs.  
  
Now, imagine his surprise when the table started wobbling again in his hands, making one of the saltcellars fall over with a slight clink.  
  
Before Heero had a time to react, the red-and-white checkered tablecloth was lifted and a disheveled Wufei emerged from under the table, looking slightly surprised when he saw Heero staring at him like he was the devil himself.  
  
The Chinese boy opened his mouth. But at first, no sound came out. His cheeks grew a little red and he stood up and straightened his clothes before attempting to explain himself again. "The table is unsteady. I was trying to fix it, but I believe I need a screw-driver to do that. We should fix it as soon as possible, though."  
  
Heero decided not to say anything, just nod, still with a slightly perplexed expression in his face. It was quiet for a while, but thankfully, Duo appeared and broke the embarrassing silence between the two boys.  
  
The younger boy was now fully dressed in the same all-black attire as yesterday, and he was braiding his long hair, that was damp, and Heero guessed that he had taken a short shower.  
  
"Morning, both of you!" The boy said brightly as he walked over to the refrigerator and took out a carton of milk. He found a big glass in a cupboard, and filled it with the white liquid - not seeming to care about the fact that no-one had answered him.  
  
However, Wufei seemed to gather his wits, and he replied sourly. "Good day, you mean. The clock is twelve."  
  
But Duo seemed to care less - he just shrugged, and Heero watched in fascination as he drank all of the white liquid without stopping once to catch his breath once.  
  
"Maxwell, we should be leaving now. Are you ready?" He asked and took one step down the stairs.  
  
"Just a sec." The boy answered as he took a chocolate-donut in his left hand and an apple in his right, then followed Heero down the stairs and out in the small hall. Both boys grabbed their thick coats and put them on, though Duo had some problems because of the food he held in his hands.  
  
Heero watched with a painfully straight face as the other boy squirmed, until he realized that he could hold the apple in his mouth as he put the coat on.  
  
"Could have helped me." He grumbled as they made their way outside. It was a lot warmer now, maybe even some degrees above zero and it wasn't even near as icy as before, though it hadn't started to thaw just yet.  
  
Heero just ignored the other boy and took the lead, showing where he had parked his car.  
  
"Be careful with that." Heero said as they got in, and nodded towards the donut that Duo was holding in his hand. "Don't want any crumbs in the car."  
  
"Oh, and that would be a tragedy." The sarcasm was thick in the other boy's voice.  
  
"No, but I wouldn't like to wash the chocolate-stains away later."  
  
Duo just shrugged as an answer and began munching on the sweet pastry, throwing side glances towards his companion to see how he would react. Heero simply ignored him, started the car and drove out from the parking lot.  
  
They sat in silence for about half an hour, but Duo, being the conversational person he was, couldn't stay silent for any longer moments. He would have sung if he had known Heero better, but since they had met just yesterday, he decided to wait with that kind of irritation. Instead, he chose the slightly better alternative, the radio.  
  
He turned it on with a mockingly elegant motion, and then leaned back in his seat again - relaxing as the tones of Loreena McKennitt's 'The Mummers Dance' started playing.  
  
Heero saw from the corner of his eye as Duo pushed the button, but decided to ignore him, at least for the time being. When another song started playing though, in a much faster tempo, he decided that he wouldn't be able to stand it, and reached out with his left hand and flicked the radio off again.  
  
He almost growled when he saw Duo reach out and turn it on again.  
  
He flicked it off.  
  
Duo turned it on.  
  
'This is ridiculous!' The shorthaired boy thought when he flicked the radio off for the third time. Moments later, he was able to watch when Duo turned it on again, with a mischievous grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.  
  
Duo couldn't believe this, Heero was so much fun to tease! Idly, he wondered when the other boy would break down and tell him to stop. Unfortunately, Heero started speaking after flicking the radio off for a fourth time, distracting him from turning it on again.  
  
"Where did you say you lived?"  
  
"Augistina Springs." Duo replied and decided not to turn the radio on anymore. He began staring out of the window instead, watching the views fly past as they accelerated on the freeway.  
  
"Huh?" Heero couldn't remember ever hearing about that town before.  
  
Duo shrugged, looking slightly apologetic as he did so. "Yeah, I know - it's kinda small. Most people haven't heard about it though. What about yourself?"  
  
"Huh?" Heero said again, not understanding the question, wishing he had something more interesting or intelligent to say.  
  
The braided boy tapped his finger against the car window in an impatient way. Heero flinched as he saw greasy fingerprints appearing, he really hated when it was dirty - especially when his own things was!  
  
"I mean, where do you live?" The braided boy explained. "I remember that 'yes, that's close to me' or something like that when you told us yesterday, but I can't really recall what you said."  
  
"Carson Valley."  
  
Duo nodded in acknowledgement, and it got quiet in the car for a while before Heero spoke up.  
  
"We go home to my sister first and pick up my things. Then you can tell me where to drive, since I don't know in what direction Augistina Springs is."  
  
Duo, once again, nodded. He thought about turning the radio on again, but decided otherwise when he saw the look Heero gave him before staring back at the road again. He settled with staring straight ahead too, and he took in the snowy landscape with a bored look in his face. He blinked when he saw a raindrop fall on the windscreen, and he leaned forwards in his seat to get a better view to the sky - yup, it was cloudy and grey. Another raindrop fell. Now he was most certain that it was going to thaw.  
  
"You have a sister?" The braided boy asked after a while, more because he wanted an excuse to speak than out from sheer interest.  
  
Heero nodded. "Yes, Relena. She's a year older than me."  
  
"And how much is that?"  
  
Heero hadn't realized that Duo didn't know how old he was. "Nineteen, she's nineteen. I'm eighteen."  
  
The other boy whistled, ill-humored. "Blows. You're older than me."  
  
Heero glanced at Duo, and smirked faintly at the downhearted look he saw in the violet-eyed boy's face. Duo leaned backwards in his seat again, and began fingering on a loose thread in his black jacket, with an air of sulkiness around him. Heero wasn't sure how, but it felt like he could reach out and touch the air with his fingers and become as sulky as his companion. After a moment of quiet boredom, he began talking again, trying to lighten the mood. The subject he chose, however, didn't cheer Duo up the least.. "Wufei's older than you too - you're sixteen, right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I think he said he was seventeen."  
  
"Again - blows." Duo sighed. "I don't want to be the youngest one in the house."  
  
Heero watched the road instead of looking at Duo when he replied. "You don't know how old the others are."  
  
Duo shrugged. "How much more younger than sixteen can a person be who moves to a new house alone?"  
  
Heero didn't answer, and Duo decided that either, Heero hadn't heard him, or he decided not to answer. The latter seemed more believable.  
  
No more conversations came up until they had almost arrived to Heero's place, when brown-haired boy squirmed in his seat in a manner that even Duo, who had met him only yesterday, thought was very un-like Heero.  
  
With a strange expression in his face, he watched as Heero continued to wriggle and squirm. After a moment, he couldn't take it anymore. "Uhh, what exactly are you doing?"  
  
"My back is itching." The other boy growled in frustration, and rubbed said body-part against his seat in an attempt to scratch himself. It didn't seem to work, because he didn't stop wriggling after that, and Duo had to endure watching him squirming around. It almost made his back itch!  
  
"Hold still." He said and touched Heero's shoulder, lightly so he wouldn't move the arm since the older boy held the steering-wheel.  
  
Heero gave him a confused glance but did as he was told. He felt as Duo pushed him forward slightly, before starting to scratch his back with calm motions. "You're too annoying when you move like that, you know." The braided boy offered as an explanation for his actions, and Heero relaxed slightly. Still, it felt strange to being scratched on his back by a person he met only yesterday and Duo seemed to think the same thing, because he stopped rather quickly and leaned back in his seat again - maybe a little red in his face, but it could also be Heero's imagination.  
  
Nothing more was said, and soon, they had arrived to where Heero lived. The car was parked and they got out in the rain quickly. Duo looked around; it was a completely usual housing area with line after line of blocks with apartments. He followed Heero who entered one of the houses.  
  
They stepped into an elevator, painted in an ugly, light green color which reminded Duo of snot or spews, and Heero pushed the button with the number four on it, written in the same color as the elevator was painted in. With a slight jerk, the elevator started going, making both boys sway where they stood.  
  
"What's your sister's name?" Duo asked after steadying himself by putting a hand on a small metal handle that was fixed to the wall of the elevator. It was rusty and dirty, but served its purpose perfectly.  
  
"I've already told you that, it's Relena." The other boy answered, just as the elevator stopped to pick up an old man who wanted to go to floor six. He wore a dirty, dark green cap which he pulled farther down over his ears. Though he glared at the two boys without saying anything, Heero politely greeted him with a "Good morning, Mr. Robinson."  
  
The man scratched his grey beard and glared even more - only answering with a low grumbling sound that made Duo blink in surprise. He chose not to say anything because the elevator stopped at floor four and he followed Heero who walked out of the small space, leaving the strange man behind.  
  
"Who was that?" He asked Heero who searched in his pockets after a key.  
  
Heero shrugged slightly and drew a small key out which he stuck into the lock and twisted it around. A small click was heard before he opened the door. "It was Robinson. He's a bit strange."  
  
"A bit?"  
  
Heero held the door open for Duo to step in, and the braided boy entered the hall that was painted in dark blue colors. There wasn't much furniture, but doors led from the hall to other rooms -some were closed and some were not. Heero followed close behind him. "Relena?" He called out.  
  
Nothing was heard at first, before a small sound came from one of the closed doors; it opened slightly, revealing a girl dressed in a light red pajama. Her honey-blonde hair that reached past her shoulders was ruffled, and the blue-green eyes looked a little puffy and sleepy. She stepped out in the hall with two other girls following her close behind; one with short, bluish black hair, and the other with very long blonde hair.  
  
"Heero." The first girl said as she walked over to hug the boy, who returned the loose embrace carefully. Duo guessed that she was Relena, and he noted that they were the same high even though the girl was a year older than Heero.  
  
Brother and sister parted and Relena looked at her little brother. "Did everything go okay? You got the apartment, right?"  
  
Heero nodded, first as a positive answer, then towards the other girls who watched them curiously. "Hilde, Dorothy, what are you doing here?"  
  
The dark-haired girl smiled, a little impishly. "Rel invited us on a sleep- over party, or what you now want to call it, to celebrate that you've finally leaved the nest." She ignored Relena's protest against the rude joke and turned towards Duo. "And who are you?"  
  
"I'm Duo Maxwell." The violet-eyed boy introduced himself, grinning almost cheekily while doing so. "I share an apartment with Heero."  
  
"Oh, nice to meet you." Relena smiled politely. "My name is Relena, and I'm Heero's older sister. The short-haired girl is Hilde Shbeiker and the blonde girl next to her is Dorothy Catalonia." She motioned with her left hand towards each girl as she spoke.  
  
They all nodded towards each other and maybe offered some words as greetings, and then it became quiet in the room. The girls tugged on their pajamas while blushing in different shades of red, from crimson to light pink, and Duo sensed that they wanted to change into something more.. neat. Heero sensed the same thing and went towards a door which Duo guessed led to the brown-haired boy's former bedroom.  
  
"I'm just picking some things up before we have to go again." Heero said to Relena with a backward glance over his shoulder before disappearing into the room. Duo was soon to follow, but he had time to hear Relena sigh and mutter something about how her brother 'never took time to relax'. He had to admit that it didn't surprise him; Heero seemed like a real workaholic.  
  
^^^^^^^^^  
  
Since Relena insisted that they would stay for coffee, Heero and Duo found themselves sitting by the kitchen-table together with the three girls after having loaded the car. Not even Heero complained, because they had both gotten rather wet from the rain.  
  
It was pouring down now, and the sky was covered with thick, grey clouds which made it quite dark despite the fact that the clock was only half past one. The girls, now dressed in comfortable jeans and sweaters, huddled in their chairs and rested their hands on their giant tea-mugs filled with Earl Grey, as if they were freezing though it was warm in the apartment.  
  
Relena looked out the window with dejected look in her eyes. "I don't understand the weather here." She sighed. "It was so cold yesterday, and now it's pouring."  
  
Duo sipped on his coffee and nodded thoughtfully. "It's kinda strange, actually." He continued muttering something about that it wasn't good, but no one seemed to notice him more than Heero, who didn't say anything about it.  
  
Hilde looked at Duo, curious. "Where did you live before moving to the apartment?"  
  
"Augistina Springs."  
  
"We're going there to pick some things up and I'm giving Duo a ride since it's not long from here." Heero added and glanced at the clock which was hanging on the wall beside a copy of one of Claude Monet's paintings of water-lilies. He stood up.  
  
"We should leave now." He said shortly but not un-politely.  
  
"Yes." Relena agreed as Duo followed Heero example and stood up, brushing some crumbs away from his black jumper. He smiled at the girls.  
  
"Well, thanks for the coffee and all, but Heero's right."  
  
Dorothy wiggled her fingers towards them. "Bye."  
  
Both boys were soon back in the car again, and Heero drove as Duo pointed out which ways he should take to get to the next planned stop.  
  
When they were out on the free-road again, they both relaxed and didn't spoke much to each other. Heero peered in attempts to see more clearly through the rain-wet windscreen - but no matter in what direction they were driving, they always seemed to drive against the wind that forced the water- drops to fall in different angels than 90 degrees. [1]  
  
After a long moment of silence, Duo spoke up. "You look like Relena."  
  
It was a clear statement, but still Heero said his intelligent "Huh?"  
  
"I said, you look like your sister. You have the same eyes for example."  
  
"Relena's eyes are green, mine are blue."  
  
Duo sighed, annoyed by Heero's reluctant answers. "Well, they have the same shape!"  
  
Heero shrugged, not bothering to say anything against it. "Do you dislike rain?"  
  
"Huh?" Duo imitated Heero's earlier statement, wide-eyed and taken aback from the change of subject. "Why do you ask?"  
  
"You said something about how bad it was that it was raining, so I thought that.." He was interrupted by Duo.  
  
"I don't mind rain, but my mother does."  
  
The braided boy's words were spoken in an almost rude manner and it was Heero's turn to be taken aback. He didn't push the subject any further.  
  
The rest of the drive was made in silence with the exception of Duo's calm voice telling his friend where he should drive to get to his home.  
  
As they arrived, the violet-eyed boy tucked his chestnut colored braid down in his coat, before stepping out in the rain again. It had calmed down slightly, it wasn't pouring down anymore, but it was enough for them to get wet before they reached the small private house. Luckily, the door was open and they didn't have to wait outside until Duo had found the key.  
  
As they entered, they were greeted with.. nothing. The hallway was dark, quiet and rather untidy. Duo ignored it and took off his coat and flung it over a chair that, for some reason was standing in the small hall, making it hard to press past since the corridor was so narrow. Heero mentally shrugged before doing the same thing.  
  
"Where's your mother?" He asked as he followed the braided boy into a room which he guessed was Duo's bedroom.  
  
The boy shrugged. "Don't know, maybe out somewhere." He bent down to pick up a big box with things that was prepared.  
  
"In this weather?"  
  
Duo seemed to try to shrug, but wasn't very successful because of the heavy box he held in his hands. "Don't know. Why don't you lend me a hand?" He nodded towards another box, and Heero picked it up, noting how heavy it was.  
  
They went out of the room again, and Heero suddenly found himself walking into the smaller boy's back when Duo stopped dead in his tracks. They both almost fell forwards and were close to drop their boxes, but luckily, they managed to keep their balance.  
  
When Heero looked up again, he was met by the sight of a woman, dressed in a big pajama - it had probably been dark brown, but now it had the color of a dark swamp, greyish brown. Her hair was black and unwashed and her pale blue eyes looked at them both with a scary amount of impassiveness. She ignored Duo and looked directly at Heero with a frown. "Who are you?"  
  
Duo spoke up. "Hi, mom."  
  
^^^^^^^^  
  
TBC..  
  
^^^^^^^^  
  
[1] Anyone more than me who have noticed this? Always, and I say *always* when I walk home from school (3 kilometers) it is headwind! Is that really possible?  
  
Are you still interested in this? Then, please tell me. ^_^ I'm not really happy with how Relena turned out; she's a really hard character to write, especially since in the most 1x2-fics you read she is a screeching stalker. (Something that *can* be amusing but is really OOC in my opinion.) Hilde seemed kinda.. rude, didn't she? I just had to say that I like her a lot so I'm not trying to bash her or anything. 


	3. Part 3

Notes: Heh, I just realized that when you use cliff-hangers, you get more reviews. ^_^ Maybe I should use them more often? *ponders with an evil smirk* Lots of people have asked me about when Trowa and Quatre would arrive so.. *drumbeats* Here's chapter three, in which I'll introduce the two remaining G-boys! ^_^  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters. Since I'm out of ideas for smarter disclaimers, I leave it like this.  
  
Beta-reader: sailor c. ryoko  
  
I'm not really happy about how this chapter turned out but.. here it is. Hope you enjoy anyway! _  
  
^^^^^^^^  
  
Life Together - Part 3  
  
^^^^^^^^  
  
When Heero looked up again, he was met by the sight of a woman, dressed in a big pajama - it had probably been dark brown, but now it had the color of a dark swamp, greyish brown. Her hair was black and unwashed and her pale blue eyes looked at them both with a scary amount of impassiveness. She ignored Duo and looked directly at Heero with a frown. "Who are you?"  
  
Duo spoke up. "Hi, mom."  
  
Heero was surprised and he looked back and forth between the other two. The woman glared at him with bitter eyes and there was no resemblance between her and the happy and spirited boy who stood beside him, still carrying the heavy box. There was no way this woman could be Duo's mother! It took a while before he realized that Duo was still speaking, but with an increasing tone of wariness in his voice.  
  
"..share an apartment with, his name is Heero Yuy.."  
  
The short-haired boy blinked as his name was mentioned.  
  
"..we should really get going again.."  
  
Heero nodded mutely in agreement and followed Duo out in the hallway again. The woman, who seemed to be Duo's mother, just watched as they walked past and didn't say a word, only muttered something inaudible that Heero really didn't want to hear. He simply ignored it, in hope to get away as soon as possible - rude or not.  
  
As they reached the door, Heero realized that they would have to stop and put down the boxes, only to be able to put on their coats. Duo seemed to grasp the same thing, because he sighed quietly and put the box down, seemingly giving up all hope to get away quickly.  
  
Heero let go of his own box, having to step over both before reaching the chair where his coat lay. Mrs. Maxwell followed them out in the hallway, watching quietly as the boys put on their garments. Heero felt unnerved by her staring eyes - it was like being watched by a big spider or a snake. Both animals were quiet and maybe slightly scary, neither showing any kind of emotions. He couldn't even force himself to feel guilty about comparing Duo's mother with a spider because of the striking rightness in his mental picture.  
  
Just as Duo turned around to open the door before picking up the box - probably to avoid problems with trying to get the door open later, his mother spoke up again, making him freeze in his actions.  
  
"Are you going to leave your Mom here alone, again? Leave, when it's raining?"  
  
There was an emphasis on the word 'raining' and Heero was surprised to hear that Mrs. Maxwell's voice had taken a tone of melodramatic sadness and pain, very unlike the earlier snapping tone she had used when she had spoke to him. He turned to the braided boy to see how his fellow tenant would react.  
  
The braided boy, earlier frozen in his movements, was now turning around slowly. "Mom, please.."  
  
"You're going to leave, just like your father!"  
  
Heero saw the braided boy wince at the words, before looking straight at his mother and saying, quietly. "He didn't have a choice in that matter." He looked sad, so very sad, and Heero felt something stab his heart at seeing someone looking like that, especially such a vibrant and happy young man.  
  
"Well, but you have!" Mrs. Maxwell flared up, now standing straight and looking sharply at her son - surprising Heero with the sudden change of appearance. He looked back and forth between mother and son, like he had done just moments ago, but his eyes was now taking in a different scene. As Mrs. Maxwell was trembling with something that only could be described as rage, Duo was standing - taking deep breaths to calm himself down but was as well standing immovable and looking at his mother with determined eyes.  
  
"No, I don't." The words were spoken calmly, but Heero could hear a tone of uneasiness in the voice. He picked up his box, and hurried out of the still open door with Heero following close behind. The latter noticed that the floor around the open door was wet from the still pouring rain. Before he kicked the door closed behind him he heard the woman snarl something. "Du.." He never heard what she was going to say as the door shut closed, effectively muffling her voice.  
  
Duo walked towards the car in swift motions, seemingly forgetting about the rain that was now soaking his hair - making the normally so unruly bangs hang heavily against his forehead. He waited by the car's trunk until Heero, who had the key, caught up with him.  
  
The shorthaired boy managed to hold the heavy box under his right arm as he searched in his pockets after the key. As he found it, he opened the trunk and allowed Duo to place his box in it first, since it seemed even heavier than Heero's own.  
  
Heero wasn't really sure what he should say, or if he would say anything at all. He glanced at Duo as they sat down in the car; the braided boy looked as if he was deep in thoughts - a frown visible underneath the dripping wet bangs. He stared out on the grey road in front of them with a depressed look in his blue-violet eyes, seemingly far away. After a while, he solved Heero's problem though and he spoke, still watching the road.  
  
"You're wondering what that was, don't you?"  
  
Heero nodded, but it wasn't really necessary to do so as Duo didn't see it and continued anyway.  
  
"It's Mom. She's been like that since.. a while back." The braided boy's voice faded and he continued to stare out of the window. He didn't say anything more and Heero was reluctant to press it, even if he felt curious. The silence was complete in the car until Duo reached out with his hand turned the radio on, and the voice from a strenuous radio announcer who exclaimed that Mariah Carey's new song had made it to the top list, echoed in the car.  
  
*******  
  
Quatre peered out of the rain-stained bus window - trying to get a view of his soon to be house through the downpour. His attempts were useless, though, and soon he gave up and looked around in the bus instead. It was almost empty, with the exception of himself, the driver and a group of teenagers - probably as old as he was who were talking about various things in loud voices. The blonde boy got the impression that they had been to a party the night before and were now on their way home. The vague smell of alcohol confirmed his guess and he frowned as one of the girls in the group noticed him. She whistled once and winked, in ridiculous attempts if flirting with him and Quatre felt how his cheeks grew warm in embarrassment as everyone started laughing at the girl's courage.  
  
Luckily, the driver of the bus seemed to remember what Quatre had asked him to do, to stop at the bus stop nearest West Side Street, and the bus slowed down before stopping completely. Quatre grabbed his two bags in his hands before taking a deep breath and going out in the pouring rain.  
  
He began to walk down the road, feeling how the rain soaked him completely in just a few minutes, and he was shivering by the time he found a house with the number seventeen on it. The lights were on in the first floor, and a soothing light shone through the windows, making the blonde boy want to enter and settle down.  
  
He found the doorbell and pushed the small button, but before he had time to hear the muffled ringing, the door swung open and he felt himself being dragged inside the house. "What..?"  
  
He found himself in a small hall and he saw to his surprise that the one who had dragged him inside with a steel-hard grip was no one else than a short, old woman with curly grey hair. The old woman held a big white towel in her hands and she rubbed it all over his body in attempts to dry his wet hair and clothes.  
  
"You stand still, dear. You're completely soaked and I don't want you to catch a cold." The old lady said as she continued to dry him off. "I'm Norma Clape, your landlady." She suddenly noticed the bags Quatre was holding. "Put down your bags, boy."  
  
Quatre did as he was told but was still surprised by his hostess actions and was relieved when Norma stopped her treatment on him and gave him the towel.  
  
"Now, wrap this around you and follow me. What's your name?"  
  
The blonde boy smiled a dizzy smile, still feeling slightly overwhelmed. "Quatre. QuatreRaberba Winner."  
  
"Oh dear, what a name." Norma opened one of the doors in the hall, revealing a kitchen which she now stepped into, motioning to Quatre to do the same. "Let's see if I can remember it.. hmm.." She closed her eyes and leaned her head backwards, a small frown visible in her wrinkled face. After a while, she looked up again, meeting Quatre dumbfounded stare with humorous, but kind eyes. "Quatre Winner, right?"  
  
"Ahh, yes, that.. will do." He dried away a water-drop that was threatening to fall on the clean kitchen-floor with the towel, before holding the white cloth up. "Where should I hang this?"  
  
"Oh, put it on your chair, dear - it'll keep both the chair and you dry. I'm sorry, but I can't seem to find the keys to your apartment right now, but I'm sure I'll remember where I put them soon. Do you want to borrow the other room to change clothes?"  
  
"No, it's okay." Quatre said, thinking that it would feel wrong to change clothes in a stranger's apartment.  
  
"Then just put the towel on you chair like I told you to."  
  
"Uhh.. okay.." Quatre, who was unused to this kind of openness and hospitality, was hesitating. At home there was usually a dull politeness in everything he and his family did and this warmth felt almost strange, but still tempting. He felt how a small smile curved his lips upwards as he sat down without asking *where* he should sit down. He had a feeling that he would like this place; hopefully the others would be this nice too!  
  
The boy watched as the old lady rushed around in the kitchen, making coffee and taking out at least five different kinds of cookies - seven of each kind, and he grinned, his earlier nervousness long gone. He would definitely *love* this place. As Norma rushed around, she also managed to produce a lot of questions, all of which Quatre tried to answer. It wasn't easy though, as he didn't have enough time between each question. The old lady finally came to an end of her questions, and the last one was. "And now you're probably curious about the other tenants, aren't you, dear?"  
  
"Yes, naturally." Quatre nodded his head earnestly up and down. "Please tell me a little about them?"  
  
Norma smiled, her eyes sparkling softly. "Of course, though I don't know much about them yet. They're all out right now, god help them." She nodded towards the window and smiled once again as Quatre shivered by the mere thought of being outside yet again. "I haven't met the last one yet. His name is Trowa Barton and should arrive soon."  
  
"How old are they?" Quatre asked letting that question express him worst curiosity. "Old, young, middle-aged?"  
  
Norma put the coffee maker on before turning around, meeting the blonde boy's eyes. "How old are you, Quatre? You don't mind me calling you Quatre, do you?"  
  
"Not at all. I'm soon to be seventeen, by the way."  
  
The woman smiled kindly. "Then they should all be about your age."  
  
"Really? And they are all nice?"  
  
"Yes, of course." Norma seemed almost offended by the question. She snorted loudly before continuing. "I shouldn't have accepted them otherwise. You see, there were a lot of people interested in this apartment and I chose *you* to get it."  
  
"Oh." Quatre wasn't sure what to reply on this. "Thank you.. I guess."  
  
"Oh, no need to thank me Quatre. Now, didn't you want a little inside information about the others?" Norma's eyes seemed to glance towards the window for a moment, but it could also have been Quatre's imagination. She began talking. "There is Wufei Chang, a Chinese boy. Seventeen years old if I remember it correctly. Well mannered, polite, though a little too serious. Nothing that can't be developed for the better, though."  
  
She paused for a while to let Quatre take in this new information before continuing. "He's in America to get married, though you should ask him for the details for yourself later."  
  
"Oh, remind me to congratu.. wait a second!" Quatre's eyes grew wide as the realization hit him. "Married when he's seventeen?!"  
  
Norma laughed, the quiet sound startled Quatre's surprised state of mind. "I thought you would react that way, but please have in mind that he's from a long-lined clan of honourable Chinese warrior-family. It's an arranged marriage, if I understood it all correctly." She went towards the window and leaned over the kitchen sink in a try to be able to see better through the wet glass. "I can't see him yet."  
  
Quatre realized that she meant the last tenants, or maybe one of the others. "Have you invited them all for coffee?"  
  
The old lady was now searching in a cupboard for something. "Oh, no, but if they arrive soon I'll invite them then. Now, where was I?" She found a sugar basin in the cupboard and she placed it on the table before finally settling down on a chair beside Quatre. "Oh, yes. Then there's a boy - sixteen years old. His name is Duo Maxwell and I'm sure you'll like him. He's like a dog I had once - a white and brown spaniel called Carmenlita. She was happy all the time and her tail started wagging every time she heard laughter."  
  
Quatre grinned at the mental image he got from the statement and he immediately pictured this Duo character as an adorable, innocent sixteen year old boy with big brown puppy-eyes.  
  
Both Norma and her guest sat quiet for a while, the only sound in the room was the silent boiling from the coffee maker. The Quatre noticed that his clothes were slowly drying on his body and the water wasn't dripping from his bangs any longer. Suddenly, Norma stood up - hurried over to a drawer and took out a towel; similar to the one Quatre was now sitting on. The boy almost fell off his chair, so sudden was the movement.  
  
"The last one is coming now." She said, breathless, giving Quatre a piece to add to his puzzle and making it all clearer in his head. He looked out of the window and sure enough, he saw a figure standing there on the rain- wet porch, holding out a hand to ring on the door-bell.  
  
The blonde boy immediately decided to save the poor young man from Norma's drying technique, so he stopped the old woman just before she could put her hand on the handle, and took the towel out of her firm grip. "I can do that if you want." He held a tone of politeness in his voice. "Go and make everything ready instead."  
  
Norma smiled thankfully at him. "Thank you, dear." She spared him a glance before hurrying away to the coffee maker, and Quatre opened the door out to the hall to go and open. As he stepped out, he heard the woman's voice calling after him. "Don't forget to dry him off!"  
  
A ting-a-ling was heard from the door, just as Quatre opened it. The boy shivered as breaths of air came in and he waved the other man - no, boy, inside quickly before closing the door again. As the wind was shut out he took his time to observe the other.  
  
Before him stood a boy about his age, maybe older by a year or so. Dripping wet bangs hid one green eye and the one that was visible looked straight back at Quatre - who was smiling nervously.  
  
"Are you the owner?" The green-eyed one asked, looking slightly surprised. "I had the impression that it was a woman."  
  
Quatre wasn't sure if he should be offended or not by the question but he held out the towel anyway. The other one accepted it and began drying his face on it. As he looked up again, the blonde boy realized that he was still waiting for an answer.  
  
"Ahh.. no.. I'm just another tenant. Mrs. Clape is busy at the moment, making coffee. What's your name?"  
  
The newly arrived boy held out a hand as he replied. "Trowa Barton." His voice was strangely quiet, but still soothing in a strange kind of way. Quatre shivered but he wasn't sure if it was because of his cold clothes or the voice, or both of the facts. Anyways, he shook the hand.  
  
"Quatre R. Winner, nice to meet you."  
  
"The same."  
  
Out of a sudden, the door opened again and another young man stepped inside. He looked to be of Chinese origin, with golden brown skin and eyes, and hair pulled up into a tight pony-tail. He wasn't wet, as Trowa was and Quatre guessed that it was because of the umbrella he held in his hands. When he spotted the other two, his eyes widened - if just a little, from surprise.  
  
When he recovered though, he held out a hand towards Trowa, who was the closest to him. "I believe we haven't met each other yet. My name is Chang Wufei."  
  
Quatre watched as the boy's exchanged names before Wufei turned towards him. "I'm Quatre Winner." He said, now completely ignoring the Raberba as he presented himself.  
  
Norma chose that moment to peer out in the hall, and she lit up when she saw the three boys standing there together.  
  
"Oh, welcome to my home." She smiled before adding. "And yours too, I guess. My name is Norma Clape, and you are..?" He eyes sought at Trowa's direction questioningly.  
  
"Trowa Barton. Nice to meet you."  
  
Quatre felt as if his own way of introducing himself had been copied, but he didn't know why. After all, there was a lot of people who said that when they met someone for the first time. He glanced at the green-eyed boy out of the corner of his eyes.  
  
The blonde boy was interrupted from his thoughts as Norma shoved them into the kitchen again, closing the door behind her. Trowa seemed to notice how the towel lay on the chair because he laid his own in a similar way on the chair next to Quatre's.  
  
Their hostess told them to sit down, and they did so as she filled their cups with coffee. Quatre noticed that Wufei had asked for 'just milk, please' instead of the black liquid but he never gave it a closer consideration. It wasn't his business after all, or was it..? The blonde boy had completely missed the smug look on the Chinese boy's face as he sipped on his coffee for the first time.  
  
It was just the years of practiced politeness in his childhood that made him able to not show anything about what he thought about the taste, on the outside that will say. On the inside, Quatre felt his throat and taste-buds ache and slowly die.  
  
He looked up in time to see a small smirk tugging the corners of Wufei's mouth upwards and he scowled, turned his gaze towards Trowa instead. The green-eyed boy's mouth was tightly shut and Quatre saw what he thought *could* be a small grimace. Their eyes met for a brief second, but the contact broke as Norma began talking.  
  
"I wonder when Heero and Duo's going to come back." The old lady pondered out aloud and took a sip of coffee. "Anyway.. help yourselves!" She smiled and took a cookie from a plate to demonstrate that it was free for them to eat.  
  
They ate for a while, chatting to each other about nothing really important, at least until Wufei seemed to remember something.  
  
"We never chose rooms yesterday." He put down his cup with milk before continuing, and Quatre assumed that 'we' indicated on Wufei himself, Duo and the last tenant. "We decided to wait with settling down until you arrived and could say something about it."  
  
Trowa and Quatre simply nodded in quiet acceptance of their choice.  
  
After a while, they could all hear how the door opened, then the loud voice from a boy.  
  
"..I wonder if the others have arrived yet, it'll be great to finally be able to settle down in an own room.." The voice was interrupted by another, cooler and calmer voice.  
  
"We need to get back to the car and pick up the remaining things."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming.."  
  
The listeners in the other room heard as the door closed, effectively shutting out the voices. Quatre took a deep breath, suddenly nervous from an unknown reason.  
  
Norma took another sip from her extraordinary coffee.  
  
"Sounds like they've befriended each other quite well." She remarked.  
  
"What's their names?"  
  
All three looked at Trowa in surprise. The green-eyed young man hadn't spoken much during the meal but now when he *did* say something, it was in a calm, or maybe slightly monotone voice.  
  
"Duo Maxwell and.. uhh.." Quatre's voice tailed off as he realized that he didn't know the last one's name. Wufei continued though.  
  
"And Heero Yuy - Japanese."  
  
"Trowa?" Quatre asked, remembering a slight accent in the other boy's voice. "Are you from America, really?"  
  
The boy in question shook his head in a slight movement as he replied. "No, I'm originally from France. I've been in USA for three years though."  
  
"Is that so?" Quatre spoke quietly to himself, wondering if it would be considered as nosy to ask Trowa why he was in USA. He decided not to. It would probably be time for that later anyway, when they knew each other better.  
  
"Are you all going to school?" Norma asked, looking at them all. Three nods answered her question.  
  
Their conversation couldn't carry on for any longer as the door opened again. Norma stood up and hurried out in the hall, her thick curly hair flying around her like a strange head protector. Quatre didn't doubt for a second that the woman would need an umbrella while going outside in the rain, the hair would keep her scalp dry anyway.  
  
A short moment later she was back again, dragging two wet, surprised boys after her.  
  
"This is Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy." She announced, looking at Quatre and Trowa as she spoke but gestured towards the two other teenagers as their names was stated. The boy with a long braid smiled and wriggled his fingers towards the last tenants and Heero just nodded slightly. Norma introduced Quatre and Trowa too. "The blonde one is Quatre Winner, and the one next to him is Trowa Barton."  
  
"Nice to meet you." They all said at the same time as they looked each other over. Quatre studied the new-comers with interest.  
  
The one called Duo Maxwell had, as already stated, long chestnut braid and big violet eyes, but there wasn't so much more feminine about him after that, more than the slim, if not thin, body. The braided boy smiled and had already started talking, even before he sat down. Quatre couldn't help but like him.  
  
The other one, Heero Yuy, didn't speak as much as his companion, but he said something to Wufei quietly as he sat down on another towel. Quatre could only pick up the words 'screwdriver' and 'bought' though the Chinese boy didn't seem to be able to help the small smile that tugged his lips upwards.  
  
The blonde boy turned towards Norma and Duo instead, they were animatedly discussing literature. For some reason, it surprised Quatre that the braided boy seemed to know so much about books, but he felt slightly ashamed about assuming things without even knowing the person much. Lost in thoughts, he rested his chin in his right palm.  
  
"..Quatre?"  
  
"Ehh?" Startled, Quatre jumped and up straight in his chair again. "What?" He asked, looking at Duo. "What is it?"  
  
"Do you like books?" The boy asked, smiling. Beside him sat Norma, smiling in the same way as she too, looked at Quatre.  
  
The blonde boy shrugged, embarrassed. "No.. well.. rather, but I like music better."  
  
"What kind of music?"  
  
"The most. I brought most of my CDs here; you can go through them later."  
  
"Cool."  
  
Quatre smiled slightly before resuming his earlier posture, staring out of the window. He could see how it slowly stopped raining but still, the sun didn't seem able to break through the thick layer of grey clouds that covered the sky.  
  
*******  
  
TBC  
  
*******  
  
As I said, I didn't like this chapter too much. :-( 


	4. Part 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters. Don't sue me; this is just a mere fan fiction. ^__^  
  
Notes: People actually seem to like this fic, still after three parts. I have so much fun doing the weather in this story; it's from my own experience of winters. ^____^ Thanks for the feedback!  
  
//Thoughts//  
  
*******  
  
Life Together - Part 4 by Maaya  
  
*******  
  
It was that kind of day when you really, really hate to wake up to. That was Quatre Raberba Winner's first thought when he came to awareness that early Monday morning. Well, it was his first thought, *after* the incoherent swirl of senseless words that always came to mind when he first woke up, but it was *almost* his fist thought.  
  
Even before opening his eyes, he could feel that it was a grey day - a day when it was damp and warm even though it's winter. When the blonde boy *did* open his eyes, that guess was confirmed, but it didn't help to make him feel better.  
  
A vague feeling of that something was wrong made him more awake than he usually was in the morning, and he looked over at the alarm clock in a quick movement that might be able to be described as a reaction.  
  
*******  
  
There was one thing Wufei had to admit - this morning was a lot different from the first one he had experienced in their shared apartment. While the Sunday morning had been calm and peaceful, this was something akin to a chicken-farm, filled with loud, obnoxious pullets.  
  
Heero was trying to fix the kitchen table with the screwdriver he had bought the day before while driving home - though Wufei didn't think that he was very successful since they had all tumbled at least once over the brown-haired boy's legs that were the only part visible from his body, as the rest of him were under the table. Actually, Wufei was almost sure Duo had fallen at least three times over the legs, though he didn't keep count.  
  
The braided boy had seemed excited today, for some reason that Wufei couldn't really comprehend. He himself was only feeling a slight lump of nervousness in his throat at the thought of starting school *and* meeting his future wife in the same day - though he didn't try to run his excitement off like Duo was currently doing, around in the apartment.  
  
Meiran. Today was the day when he would meet his wife for the first time ever. It would probably be a .. strange encounter. Wufei wasn't sure what they should do, what they should talk about - he felt very much too young to marry someone, though he had known this day would come since he was a child. He had tried to ask his mother about Meiran; what kind of person she was and such, but the older Chinese woman had just smiled and told him to wait and see.  
  
Wufei took that as a bad omen.  
  
He was supposed to meet her after school, and for some reason that made him even more nervous. What if something went wrong? What if he came to dislike her? What if..? He forced himself to stop this uncomfortable line of thoughts as he went down the stairs and grabbed his coat.  
  
It had stopped raining the day before, but everything, even the air, felt damp around him as he stepped outside. Idly wondering how it could be this warm in the middle of the winter, he began walking towards his school, carefully avoiding the big puddles of water that seemed to take up most of the streets.  
  
*******  
  
When Trowa was younger, he had been a loner. He still was - but it wasn't such a great problem any more. Once, when he was ten, he had hidden under his parents' car because he had been too nervous to get up on stage for the first time ever. They had found him, of course, but not before he had lost his chance to do his acrobatic number.  
  
They had been angry, to say the least. His mother, who now was dead, had refused to acknowledge him for over a week, let alone speak with him. His father, who was currently running a circus down in New Zealand and had no chance to contact either him or his sister, had hit him. More than once.  
  
He had told him that it was all Trowa's fault, that the evening had been destroyed and that he wished he'd never gotten a son like him. The last thing had hurt the very most, making him feel like something useless, something completely unnecessary.  
  
What could actually be worse to hear as a ten year old boy, than that your father didn't want you?  
  
Catherine, his sister, had taken care of him during that time, but as Trowa grew older he also got a sense of pride, making it hard for him to accept the loving care from his older sister. He had felt trapped, caught in a snare of expectations of that he, someday, would have to return the favour somehow.  
  
And that was impossible.  
  
How could he ever be able to return such a great favour? What would he ever be able to do to make it up?  
  
The possibility that Catherine might not need, nor want anything in return, never occurred to Trowa. Thinking about that matter, he'd gone outside, escaping the nervous energy that came from a certain braided boy who was right now disturbing Trowa as he tried to think.  
  
*******  
  
Duo was restless and excited. And, even though he didn't like to admit it, was also the tiniest bit nervous. He knew exactly what he was going to do today. First he would go to school. When that was done and he was free from that, he would go to the place he had gotten a job. Then, he would go home. His new home, will say.  
  
Simple.  
  
He was no stranger of doing things by himself; he had taken care of himself for a long time. Not had he only taken care of himself, he had also been forced to take care of his mother.  
  
But that was something he kept in private.  
  
The sixteen year old boy rushed around in the apartment, from his room to the living room, from the living room to the kitchen, and then back again, searching for books and pencils that he had already spread around himself in the living room and the kitchen. He rounded a corner quickly, but just as he passed the closed door leading to what now was Quatre's room, it flow open with a loud 'bang', and a hurricane of the blonde boy came blowing out in the living room in surprising speed.  
  
Needless to say, they both collided - falling on their rears onto the floor in ungraceful heaps of arms, legs and a certain braid, all tangled in one another.  
  
"Ooof!" Was the only way to describe their yelps as they landed, and Duo's next statement wasn't much better.  
  
"Owww.." He sat up with a wince, and rubbed his sore back and head. When he could focus his eyes again, he looked over to see who it was he had smashed into. "You alright?"  
  
The other boy sat up quickly, pushing his blonde bangs out of his face in a gesture that spoke of dejection. "This is just not my day.." the voice was slightly strained, as if he was in pain, and he peered up between two fingers. "I'm sorry, are you okay?"  
  
Then he seemed to get a better look at the clock hanging on the wall and he stood up. "I'm sorry - I'm late - Got to hurry - Bye!" He disappeared into the bathroom, leaving a startled Duo behind, still sitting on the living room floor and staring at the closed, white-painted door.  
  
After a moment of confusion, he got up again and headed back to the kitchen again, only to stumble over a pair of legs that were still outstretched from under the table. Pushing himself up with his palms from the floor for a fourth time this morning, he winced as the owner of the certain legs emerged from under the table, looking very annoyed.  
  
"Duo, this is the third time! Can't you at least look three meters in front of you before you walk!?" The fact that they had only known each other for two and a half days didn't seem to matter to him anymore as his temper flared. Heero paused and took some deep breaths, intending to continue soon. He lost the thread though, as the younger boy rubbed his ears in an annoyed manner, seemingly oblivious to Heero's raging mood.  
  
"No need to yell that loud." Duo muttered as he stopped the rubbing a moment later. "I can become deaf, you know."  
  
Heero glared, not bothering to say anything as he put all of his anger, irritation, and own nervousness into that one stare.  
  
The silence became thick in the small kitchen of theirs, and Duo began to rub his ears again absently, in loss of anything else to distract himself with.  
  
A second later, Quatre had rushed into the kitchen - but he stopped short as he saw the two boys sitting on the floor beside each other.  
  
"Wh-what are you doing?" He asked and his eyes wavered between the two, the glare was not to be unseen.  
  
Duo jumped up quickly. "Why Quatre, you are late! Doesn't your school start at half past eight like normal schools do?"  
  
"Well, there's only one High school in this town, so it *should*, at least from the logical point of view." Heero had to put in.  
  
Duo ignored him and continued. "It's eight now, so you should hurry up."  
  
"I forgot to set the alarm clock last night." The blonde said, embarrassed, and walked over to one of the cupboards, wearing something akin to a flush in his face. "This is where the glasses are, right?"  
  
He spoke quietly and looked unsure, so Duo nodded enthusiastically. "Yes." Then he thought for a while before adding. "Do you want me to wait for you? We could accompany each other since we're going to the same school and all."  
  
Quatre looked mildly surprised bur recovered. "You'd be late too. There's no need for you to wait." He took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with fresh water from the faucet.  
  
//I want to get to know you, stupid!// Duo didn't voice his thoughts, but he still insisted. "Come on now." He glanced at Heero out of the corner of his eye and suddenly smirked. "Heero can drive us, can't you, Heero?"  
  
*******  
  
Merry East High School was not a big school. Only the mere amount of five hundred students went there and most of them doubted that they would ever have to enlarge the small building. It was a red brick building; four stories high but not very wide and there were three big windows for each room plus those in corridors and stairs. It gave the building a rather strange look from the outside since it was almost completely covered in windows in different forms and shapes.  
  
Duo and Quatre entered the school together, both boys feeling uncertain and out of place in the unfamiliar territory filled with all the same very much unfamiliar students. Heero had told them that he had some business to do and had driven away with the promise that he would arrive later.  
  
"It's too bad we're in different grades." Duo muttered under his breath as he looked at a graffiti painting saying that 'school is hell' on one of the grey walls surrounding them. "But I guess the first thing we should do is to find the headmasters office. No one has told me where I should go otherwise."  
  
Quatre shrugged. "I guess so, but how do we get there?" He looked around in the main entrance with wide eyes. "This room has to take up most of the place in this school!"  
  
The braided boy brought his braid over his shoulder to play with. "I have no idea." He thought for a while before adding. "About where to find the office, I mean."  
  
There were students all around them, talking, laughing, shouting and teasing each other as they made their way to their class rooms.. it all mixed together to a steady, never ending murmur. It looked as if all the five hundred students were all crowding this room, and it felt for Quatre as if he would have to break that wall of noises before he would be able to take another step - but Duo solved the problem by grabbing the blonde's arm, dragging him over to where a small group of girls stood together, chattering. They looked up when they came to disturb them.  
  
Duo grinned with as much charm as he could. "Hi, we're new here.. uhh.. could any of you show us the way to the headmasters office?"  
  
Quatre did suddenly realize what a power his new friend and fellow tenant had - Duo's smile was stunning and the blonde boy could see how the girls' eyes suddenly lit up with new interest for these new students.  
  
One girl, with short black hair with brightly red and blue coloured bangs spoke up. "It's just up that step." The girl made a gesture with her hand towards one of three stairs. "And then the first door to the left."  
  
"Thanks." Duo, who had never let go of Quatre's arm, did now haul him towards the stairs. The blonde boy idly wondered who was actually the older of the two of them. Duo seemed very used to take charge and do things for himself.  
  
They walked up the short stairs and found themselves to soon be standing in front of a door that was presumably leading to their final destination, and it was for some reason decorated with a big picture of a cow. Duo reached out with a hand and knocked on the udder.  
  
No answer.  
  
He knocked again.  
  
No answer.  
  
Another knock.  
  
There was no answer, but a strange sound was heard. Duo looked at Quatre, questioning.  
  
"What should we do?"  
  
That strange sound was heard once again.  
  
"It's obvious that someone is there, at least."  
  
Another strange sound.  
  
"Maybe he didn't hear you'?"  
  
Quatre shrugged at that, but Duo continued.  
  
"Maybe we should enter?"  
  
Another strange sound was heard.  
  
"Is that really a good idea?" Quatre was hesitant.  
  
"Yes!" Duo seemed to decide and he put his hand on the handle, waiting for a minute before opening. He slid inside, with Quatre following close behind but as soon as they were inside they stopped dead in their tracks.  
  
Behind them, the door slid closed automatically, not making even the faintest sound.  
  
Quatre's mouth fell open in surprise and Duo's eyes widened enough to make it possible to see the whites all around the orbs.  
  
A woman who looked to be around her thirties, with brown shoulder-length hair, stood in the middle of the room in front of a large desk. A pair of round glasses with grey steel-frames rested on her nose-bridge and she pushed them up further before beginning to put her hair up in two buns, one on each side of his head.  
  
None of this was really surprising, but then there was that fact that she was only wearing a dark green, knee long skirl and nothing more. A man with ginger coloured hair stood behind her, in the middle of the task to close her tight sports bra.  
  
Quatre had just managed to pick up his chin when she put on a slightly lighter green coloured blouse and began to button in quickly, with what seemed to be years of practiced ease. The blonde boy wondered just *how* many times a day.  
  
She did finally look up at them. "I can't recall I ever told you it was free to enter, Mr. Maxwell and Mr. Winner."  
  
The ginger haired man disappeared out of the door, closing it carefully behind him.  
  
She must have been expecting them though, Quatre realized at the mention of their names, and he cleared his throat embarrassedly.  
  
"Ahh.. no.. but we thought.. we heard.." He stammered in a hurried try to explain their actions. Unconsciously, he began to fiddle with the hem of his brand new school uniform jacket in a visibly nervous gesture and his eyes flew around the room as he tried *not* to let them rest on the headmistress chest, that he had recently seen bare.  
  
Duo came to his rescue. "We heard a sound, ma'am, and thought that you had just not heard us." He took a step forward and Quatre followed hesitantly. "We could never had guessed that the sound could.. have been..uhh..yeah."  
  
Both boys blushed a matching set of bright red in whereas Quatre was just maybe a shade brighter.  
  
"Well, as long as it won't happen again." She paused and Quatre realized that she didn't seem embarrassed in the slightest. "My name is Lady Une and I am the headmistress of this school.."  
  
The woman continued to talk about rules, systems and schedules in a firm voice that tolerated no oppositions. She didn't even seem put off because her listeners had just seen her only half dressed a while ago.  
  
Quatre watched, fascinated, as she pushed her glasses up for a third time while talking. She used her index finger and she was using it hard, and it made Quatre wonder how she didn't get marks on her nose from doing that. In the back of his mind, he was quietly hoping she would drop them only to see what would happen.  
  
At the thought, he had to snort loudly to avoid a laugh and he let his eyes wander over to the room in trying to get a distraction.  
  
The office was rather large, as if it had once been a classroom not an actual office, though the size was the only thing resembling a classroom. The walls were painted in a dark blue colour and the floor was clad in brown carped, but since there were two big windows going from floor to ceiling behind the desk, it wasn't dark inside.  
  
What Quatre found strange was the many various pictures covering the wall around them. There were three pictures of cows, white, brown and black ones, a small picture of a rose standing in fresh water in summer sun, and strangely enough also a reaper dressed completely in black and holding a scythe.  
  
The blonde saw his friend turn his head slightly and he guessed that Duo was also looking around in the room.  
  
He was in the middle of wondering if Wufei and Trowa had been here yet, when Lady Une finished her lecture.  
  
"..you are dismissed now. Have a nice day."  
  
'Period.' Quatre thought after that final statement - it was obvious that is was period. Lady Une looked at them with firm eyes and both boys decided to move out of the office, immediately.  
  
*******  
  
After school  
  
Heero's hand snuggled further down into the warm depths of his pockets as he walked down the road towards his new home after having been on a small expedition around the town. The pace he kept was steady, slow in speed as he had to step in different directions and lengths in order to avoid the still growing puddles of water, coming from melted snow.  
  
Every time a car came passing by, it had to slow down beside him so it wouldn't splash him with the cold water.  
  
The boy stopped by a crosswalk, looking first to his left, then to his right. As he saw a car coming rapidly closer, he decided to wait until it had passed - it wasn't like he was in any hurry anyway.  
  
Something he seemed to have miss, though, was the extraordinary big puddle on the road beside the sidewalk..  
  
It wasn't until the car was only meters away from him, as he noticed the matter, and he took a quick step backwards - but it was too late.  
  
Heero closed his eyes in a mere reaction to protect his eyes as he felt millions of cold, probably muddy, water drops cover his entire body in a short moment of a monsoon, soaking him. As he opened his eyes again, he stood there without moving, surprised enough to become completely powerless to act. He stared in front of him stupidly, without really seeing anything. The cold water dripped from his clothes and hair, and he got muddy drops in his eyes.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
Startled, he looked up in the direction of which the shout had come from, desperately blinking in attempts to make the dirt disappear from his eyes. He peered at the person who seemed to walk towards him in a steady, fast pace.  
  
It was a woman, probably around her thirties, with long honey blonde hair reaching past her shoulders as it hung free, some wisps of hair moving in the very slight breeze coming from her movements. A pair of blue eyes showed her wish to laugh at his bad fortune, as well as sympathy for his dirty and wet state. When she came closer, Heero could wipe away the last stains of dirt from the area around his eyes, and he noticed that she was taller than him, taller than any ordinary woman actually.  
  
"How did it go?" She asked and looked down at him with those humorous eyes, that made Heero unsure about if she was serious or not. "What an asshole - he knew you were standing there all the time!" She actually looked offended for his sake.  
  
"It's okay." Heero shrugged, before wiping his face with his sleeve in a try to clean the remaining mud away, but as his jacket was even dirtier than his face, it did more harm than good.  
  
"Bullshit! Here, take this." She searched around in her pockets for a while before taking out a clean, white handkerchief for him to take. The boy stared at it for a moment, unsure of what he should do.  
  
The woman waved with her hand that was holding it impatiently though. "Hey, take it! It's not like it's going to bite you or something, and I haven't used it yet. It is completely and fully clean. Here, come on kid."  
  
Heero, slightly offended at the fact that he was called 'kid' even though he was eighteen years old, finally accepted the handkerchief and he wiped it across his face. It helped a great lot more than his dirty sleeve had done. When he was done, he held it out towards the woman again, but she just shook her head negative.  
  
"Oh, no, don't try to load it off on me. Keep it - you'll be the one who throws it away later. I've got plenty."  
  
Though it hadn't been his intention to 'load anything off' onto the other woman, he didn't say anything, just put it in his own pocket instead.  
  
She peered at him, seemingly curious. "Not a talker, are you, kid?"  
  
Heero shrugged again, and it caused her to laugh.  
  
"No, definitely not." She grinned and held out a hand for Heero to shake.. "I'm Mari, by the way - Mari Thompson. I own the coffee shop down the street, called Sweet Tongues."  
  
If Heero was confused by the name, he did certainly not show it. Instead he stared at the hand with rather glossy eyes - the latest events had been too much to follow for his poor mind but finally, after a long moment of desperate tries to gather his thoughts, he took it.  
  
"Heero Yuy."  
  
Mari brightened, though he didn't know how it was possible as her grin already covered her whole face. "Oh, so you *can* speak. I thought for a minute that you were mute, kiddo."  
  
The brown-haired boy couldn't help but notice the resemblance between this woman and Duo. Idly, he wondered if they were related somehow, though they didn't look anything alike. Lost in thoughts, he didn't hear as Mari continued to talk to him, not until she noticed and poked him into life again.  
  
".. Heero? Hey, Heero." She touched his arm lightly, looking at him with concerned eyes. "Jeez, kid, are you all right? Maybe there was a stone to go with all that dirt."  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"Sure, and I am the queen of England." Mari snorted softly and tousled Heero's bangs. "Hey, why don't you follow me back to the shop, I'll treat you some coffee."  
  
He stiffened as her hand reached out and touched his hair once again, but was unsure about how he should react. He settled with shaking it off. "I'm fine." He repeated.  
  
The woman shrugged, visibly disappointed. "Well, suit yourself then. Bye!"  
  
She turned around and continued to walk down the road, leaving a confused Heero behind, staring at her disappearing back.  
  
*******  
  
Wufei looked at his watch, then up towards the big clock that was hanging on one of the great walls of the school building, and then down on his watch again. Both clocks showed the exact time and still, his wife wasn't here in time.  
  
It seemed like a freak of fate that he would end up with a negligent wife, as he was the most punctual and precise boy he knew about.  
  
"Hey! What are you doing!?"  
  
His head snapped up at that scream that was followed closely by a loud roar and another more feminine shout.  
  
Wufei recognized all the signs and put it together two and two until he got the answer - someone had attacked a girl. It only took him a few seconds to consider if he would help out or not - he ran towards the sounds as fast as he could.  
  
*******  
  
Meiran Chang was a born fighter. When she had been younger and still lived in China with her parents, she had gone to a school teaching some forms of martial arts and she had been the best in her class - better than any girl, or boy for that matter.  
  
After moving to another country, on the other side of the world, she hadn't been able to test her knowledge in those arts, and when she then saw some older guys bully two younger girls in a dark alley not far from the school, she had seen red - and attacked. She could not believe how such cowardly acts could happen here, let alone in a school.  
  
The smaller girls had escaped in the same second as she delivered the first punch, but that didn't bother her the slightest. A fight was a fight after all, and she was supposed to fight to save the weaker ones.  
  
The black haired girl threw a fast spin kick towards one of the guys and he kneeled over, clutching his stomach with a pained (and in Meiran's opinion also stupid) expression in his unintelligent face.  
  
She quickly considered if he would be able to stand up again, but decided no. Instead, she turned towards the two others, who stared at her with no little amount of shock. She guessed that they had never seen anyone, let alone a 'little' girl about half their size, take one of them down. She smirked.  
  
"Want some more?"  
  
They both attacked her as soon as the words left her lips and her brows furrowed in concentration as she hit one of them square in his face and managed to block the other one's fist as it came flying towards her.  
  
What she didn't manage to do, however, was to block the other fist that came from the other side. Meiran grimaced as the guy's knuckles hit her side, hard, and she gasped, trying to get some oxygen into her lungs..  
  
A clutched hand came swishing past her head from somewhere behind and hit the goons chin. A sound akin to when two billiard-balls hit each other was heard, and the bully froze for a second before joining his mates on the ground among orange-peels and empty paper-bags.  
  
Meiran wobbled on her unsteady legs, dangerously close to do the same thing, but felt a firm and warm, though slightly sweaty hand, grab her shoulder and steady her until she could stand on her own power again. She turned around to see who her 'saviour' was. "What in the hell do you think you are doing!?"  
  
A boy in her own age stood behind her, startled by her angry tone, as far as can be judged by his widened black eyes. He was dressed in her school's uniform with blue pants and a white shirt, and he was obviously from China, with his golden tanned skin and black hair to go with those black orbs.  
  
"Excuse me?" He asked, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly as he rubbed the fist he had hit the bully with, as if he had hit a stone - not a chin. He used a tone as if he was talking to a small child, careful and soothing, and it only served to make Meiran even angrier. She pointed an accusing finger at him.  
  
"I did certainly *not* need any help!"  
  
"You should have told me that when you were being used a punching bag by that guy." The Chinese boy retorted, nodding towards the body in question. "Without my help you'd be the one lying there, not he."  
  
"Are you trying to tell me that I'm weak?"  
  
Wufei frowned at the Chinese girl, disapproving of her fiery temper, it seemed. "I'm saying that you're inexperienced."  
  
"And you are of course *so* experienced, huh?" Meiran's hands clenched, though she didn't know why this guy bothered her so much.  
  
The boy let out a soft, extravagated puff of air in frustration, knowing that he should get back to the decided meeting place, not argue with this arrogant girl. Still, there was something he had to tell her, there was something she would have to understand if she would become a strong martial artist. Something he strongly believed in himself. He decided to begin to make his point with a question of his own.  
  
"What are you fighting for?"  
  
"Why would you want to know? I don't know you, and my reasons are mine and mine only." Meiran replied and dusted herself off with still, though she hated to admit it, shaky hands. She passed Wufei, but for some reason she felt that she had to stop and look back at him over her shoulder before waling out in the sun light.  
  
"You shouldn't underestimate women - one day it might give you a disadvantage." She leered.  
  
She still didn't move, and Wufei stared, surprised and not knowing what he should do, at her back.  
  
"What's your name?" He asked, finally.  
  
"Long Meiran, why?"  
  
Wufei choked on an intake of air, and he couldn't force any sound past his throat, not even after he was able to breath normally again - because Long Meiran was the name of who would soon become his future wife.  
  
Meiran, surprised by his sudden quietness, turned around slowly, staring at him.  
  
"What..?"  
  
*******  
  
TBC  
  
*******  
  
I hope it wasn't confusing.. *sigh* This chapter wasn't my best because it didn't really *happen* anything. *whine, whine* I want to write about Duo and Heero together, damnit! Why is that so hard for me to do? (Don't worry, I will bring in some romance and angst soon!) 


	5. Part 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters. Nothing was harmed because I wrote this, nor did I earn any money. So don't sue me.  
  
Notes: I've completely screwed up here with the time in this and the last chapter. Whilst the school is over for Wufei and Heero, it has just begun for Duo. I'm terribly sorry (and embarrassed) but please think of it as weird jumps in time.  
  
For some reason, I truly loved to write this chapter. I'm just sorry that it's so short.  
  
Special chapter warnings: Umm, overuse of Shakespeare-quotes?  
  
*******  
  
Life Together - Part 5 by Maaya  
  
*******  
  
Quatre stared at his newly opened locker in disbelief. It was parted in two, and both sides were filled with books, papers, tennis balls, half- eaten lollipops, a rotten apple and even a half-filled glass of water. After a moment of quiet staring, his jaw finally worked again and he closed it carefully.  
  
He searched in his mind for a moment, and then some words fell to place from Une's earlier speech. There was something about 'sharing lockers'. . . The blonde boy suddenly felt very unhappy with the fact.  
  
Singing, he picked the side without any kind of leftovers and began to move the stuff to the other side, but found himself unsuccessful in the task and gave up, settling with stuffing his bag into the locker. He hoped that it wouldn't become too wrinkled.  
  
"Hi. You're my new locker-mate?"  
  
Surprised, the blonde boy swirled around. He was met by the sight of a boy who looked to be around his age, carrying a football under his left arm, carelessly. The boy had short, blonde hair, was broad-shouldered, rather tall and muscular. Brown eyes looked down at Quatre, showing only the slightest hint of curiosity and a much greater amount of . . .amusement (?) in them. He was wearing the school-uniform, but only the shirt and tie, which was loosened around the sleek neck.  
  
He held out a hand towards the shorter boy. "Ryan McEvens. Nice to meet ya."  
  
"Quatre Winner."  
  
"You're new, aren't you? How do you like it so far?" Ryan went over to the open locker and rummaged around in it for a moment, leaning inside as far as it seemed possible.  
  
"Quite well, I guess." Quatre began, uncertainly. "But do you think you could. . ."  
  
The older boy emerged again, now with a tattered, black baseball cap and a wide grin. "Got it! I thought I had forgotten it somewhere!"  
  
". . . could, uh. . . "  
  
"Well, it was nice to meet ya! See you later!" Ryan disappeared around the corner, gone faster than he had appeared.  
  
". . . clean out the locker for me. . . ?" Quatre finally finished to himself and stared at the spot where he had seen the youth latest, surprised and shocked, and not a little indignant.  
  
*******  
  
"This is our new student, Mr. Duo Maxwell."  
  
The teacher stopped after that short statement and Duo felt unsure about what he should do. After a long moment of uncertainty, he decided to stay where he was; beside the teacher in front of what was going to be his English-class. From what he could see, it was a completely normal class, with both boys and girl, interested and uninterested, the usual jocks and the usual cheerleader-types. Some were playing with their pencils, some were not. Most of them looked up briefly as he was introduced, but looked down again - as if they didn't want the responsibility to care for a new student like him.  
  
It was when the teacher turned towards the blackboard that the braided boy felt how impatience and surprise grew in him to become a strong need to say something. "Sir?" He asked.  
  
The teacher turned around swiftly enough to almost hit him with his pointer he kept under one arm. His name was Mr. Peters and was (in Duo's opinion) a real teacher-character picked up from a high-school movie somewhere. He looked strict, was tall and thin. A small sign from a frown touched his forehead, and his cheeks covered in black beard that went in a horrible contrast with his white skin, went inwards. "Yes?"  
  
"Uh." Duo began to fiddle with the end of his braid nervously. "Am I supposed to sit down somewhere?"  
  
"Yes, *please* do that, Mr. Maxwell." There was a tone akin to mockery in his voice but Duo couldn't for his life understand why.  
  
"Where should I sit?"  
  
"The only empty seat is beside Ms. Wilder so I *do* believe that there's the place."  
  
A young girl with very blond hair and pale skin raised her hand calmly to show where she was and Duo strolled over to sit down. When he passed the first line of benches he could hear several gasps at the sight from his braid and a few giggles. He ignored both kinds of sounds. He didn't care. He kept his braid, no matter what - and he didn't care what people thought of him because of that.  
  
Some people would have admired him for that. To do something that wasn't regular, will say. It was that kind of people who *wanted* but didn't dare because they, at the same time, wanted to be a part of the society.  
  
But Duo didn't care.  
  
Sure, he wanted to be popular, (who didn't?) but he wanted to be liked because of who he *was* not because his appearance, ugly or good-looking. And personally, he liked the way he looked with a braid and he *knew* he looked good. It was just that it was unusual.  
  
And being unusual is something some people can't accept.  
  
Duo knew a lot of things that made him unusual. His braid was one fact. His mother was another, and being forced to work at the mere age of sixteen too. Being gay could also be added to the list. He smiled wryly.  
  
Still, he kept a steady grin in place as he sat down beside Ms. Wilder (A.K.A. Melanie he would soon get to know.) and began his first class in this new school.  
  
"Mr. Maxwell, could you please tell us the first line from 'Othello' by Shakespeare?"  
  
It was going to be a long day.  
  
*******  
  
"..that thou, Iago, that hast had my purse.." Duo muttered on and on under his breath, where he sat alone at a table with a lunch-tray to his left and a tattered book with the name 'Othello' written on it, placed to his right, open so that he could read from it whilst he ate. He looked up briefly and caught sight of a face he recognized. "Hey, Quatre!"  
  
The blonde youth looked over and spotted Duo, who was waving to him, and he decided to come over. "Can I sit here?" He asked, though he already knew what the answer would be.  
  
"Sure, sure." The other boy grinned at him before looking down into the book again. "..didst hold him in thy hate.."  
  
Quatre felt baffled when the vibrant boy started to quote Shakespeare in front of him. Duo didn't look nor act like the type to who'd enjoy Shakespeare. "Othello?" He took a bit from his own lunch-tray and chewed, peeking curiously at the braided boy as he did.  
  
"Yeah. By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman."  
  
The blonde boy couldn't hold back the chuckle that escaped his throat at the commentary that perfectly seemed to somehow reflect what Duo thought and felt right now. "Homework?"  
  
"More like punishment." The braided youth shut the book and hit the cover with a palm in a frustrated gesture. "My English-teacher thought that I was cheeky when I told him that I held no interest in Shakespeare whatsoever. Now I have to learn all of Roderigo's lines in the first scene by heart."  
  
"Tough." Quatre replied compassionately and took another bite. "Which teacher was it?"  
  
"Mr. Peters, I think. And I have exactly three days until I have to quote everything for him." Duo chewed thoughtfully before adding. "I won't make it."  
  
"If you stay up every night, then maybe." The blonde said helpfully. "I've been forced to do that more times than I want to recall."  
  
"Do you *want* to share an apartment with a coffee-addicted zombie?"  
  
"Good point." Quatre couldn't believe how easy it was to talk to this younger boy. It felt as if they had been friends for a very long time instead of having met only yesterday and he felt at ease with the other boy. More at ease than he had ever felt with his father.. He sobered at that thought. It was a subject he wasn't ready to go into right now. "Still, why did you move here?"  
  
Duo visibly sobered, in the same manner as Quatre had. "Work." He answered shortly and ducked his head, opening his book again.  
  
The blonde could hear warning-bells ring in his mind but he couldn't stop the curiosity that welled up inside of him together with the words. "Why would you want to work at sixteen?"  
  
He was answered by a shrug and lowered eyes. "Money."  
  
"Oh." Quatre blushed uncomfortably and lowered his eyes too. "I'm sorry. . ."  
  
"Don't be, it's okay."  
  
A silence followed his words and Duo used the moment to open his book again. "If't be your pleasure and most wise consent, as partly I find it is, that your fair daughter. . . "  
  
"Are you going to practice that at home?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Aloud?"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
The blonde youth let out a long suffering sigh. "I think I'm truly going to hate Shakespeare after this."  
  
"YOU will? What about me!?"  
  
*******  
  
"Long Meiran, why?"  
  
Wufei choked on an intake of air, and he couldn't force any sound past his throat, not even after he was able to breath normally again - because Long Meiran was the name of who would soon become his future wife.  
  
Meiran, surprised by his sudden quietness, turned around slowly, staring at him. "What..?"  
  
The boy didn't know what to say, he didn't even know if he could speak. This was so unnatural and strange. He had been prepared for meeting his wife and he had been prepared for the marriage though not wishing for it - but he hadn't been prepared for meeting his wife for the first time like this.  
  
And he was definitely not prepared for that she would act like this.  
  
He did finally manage to force sound past his throat again. With stiff expression and an even stiffer bow of his head, he introduced himself. "Chang Wufei."  
  
Keeping his eyes firmly about and inch from her head, he didn't see how her eyes widened almost impossibly large, nor did he see how her mouth dropped open. Complete silence reigned in the alley before the girl found words to break it.  
  
"You're the one to become my husband?" There was dryness and something akin to sarcasm in her voice that didn't show her surprise in the slightest. It did show her displeasure though.  
  
Wufei let his eyes move an inch so he could look her into her eyes. "Did you expect something else?"  
  
"I certainly did! Something I knew for sure I didn't want was a male chauvinist pig!"  
  
"Do you have a problem with men?"  
  
"No more than you have with women."  
  
Wufei frowned as he tried to hide his growing confusion. This girl was as stubborn as a mule and as outspoken like no one else. "When did I say I have a problem with women?"  
  
The Chinese girl opened her mouth, then closed it again in a perfect imitation of a fish stranded on shore. As she couldn't come up with anything good to answer, she refrained from doing so and kept quiet.  
  
"I think that you are more of a feminist than I am chauvinist." Wufei continued and dusted his pants off. "This has to be the worst match ever made in marriages." In the quietness of his mind, he continued. 'And now I understand why my mother always smirked when she talked about Long Meiran.'  
  
"I don't need you to tell me that." Was the girl's answer when she finally took the last step out on the road. The clock was already past four and sun had already begun to set though it didn't make much difference on the ever so cloudy sky.. "As much as I'd like to go home now, I guess I'm forced to come with you and share a meal. It looks like we'll spend a lot of time together in the future."  
  
"Not to either of our happiness." Wufei muttered as he followed her out of the alley.  
  
But still, it looked like the evening would become quite interesting.  
  
********  
  
Trowa Barton, just having finished his day in school, was just on his way home when he heard someone shout his name. Looking up, he saw a certain blonde wave and walk swiftly towards him.  
  
"Hi Trowa!"  
  
"Hello." He replied softly when Quatre caught up with him and began to walk alongside him, almost forced to run as Trowa walked fast and had longer legs than the blonde youth. "You're going home?"  
  
Quatre shook his head, negative. "Actually, I was going to look around in this town for a bit, though I can't imagine there's a lot to see here anyway." Then he smiled and looked up at the taller and quieter boy. "Want to join me?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Eh?" The shorter of the two looked surprised. "Why not?"  
  
"No reason."  
  
"Oh." Disappointment filled the blonde boy and he fought to keep it invisible. "Guess I'll be on my own then."  
  
"Yes."  
  
Quatre looked at Trowa, uncertain if the taller boy was pulling a fast one on him, but the impassive face told him no. "Well then, I better get going. Bye."  
  
The quiet boy watched as Quatre starting walking in a different direction, away from him and waving as he did. The blonde youth threw one last questioning glance over his shoulder before disappearing around a corner, without leaving any signs of that he had been there just seconds ago, more than the words that was still echoing in Trowa's mind.  
  
'Want to join me?'  
  
No one, more than Catherine, had ever asked for his company, and it felt strange to hear another, much softer voice, doing so. Surprise had made him say no, but something inside his chest ached when he had done that. After all, someone had *wanted* to be with him.  
  
*Wanted* to be with him.  
  
Why would anyone do that? Couldn't they see what a freak he was? How strange and silent?  
  
He hadn't chosen to share an apartment to get friends, of course he hadn't. There was a reason behind his choice, a very simple and still annoying reason. It had been the first thing he'd been able to get, and the cheapest. He was quickly running out of money, the small amount he had when he began the journey was almost completely gone.  
  
He needed to get a job, and he didn't have much time.  
  
*******  
  
Quatre walked quickly, trying to burn away some of that energy caused by surprise and frustration. 'Did he have to be rude? I just wanted some company - it would be nice to get some friends here after all. Doesn't he feel the same?'  
  
The city was, just as he predicted, not very impressing. There was a small shopping centre with graffiti on the grey walls. There was the usual housing areas, some of them for richer people, some of them almost slum. There was a river, leading through the whole town, but it wasn't a fresh and beautiful river, no, it was a grey, dirty one in which you could see paper-bags and empty McDonald's boxes floating around, together with an occasional shoe before it became filed with water and sunk.  
  
After a while, he found himself sitting in a small café by the river. The tables were without cloths, but covered in plastic plates that made them easy to clean.  
  
Clean. That was the good thing about the café - its clean state. Quatre couldn't think of something worse to be forced to eat from dirty plates or with gross cutlery. Ordering a cup of tea, he let himself relax in the chair, thinking about the guys he had suddenly been forced to befriend.  
  
He hadn't seen much of Heero, but it was obvious that Duo knew him better, if not liked him. They hadn't spoken much at all yet, though Quatre thought that he looked like one to be quiet an ambitious.  
  
Wufei Chang was mostly the same. Still, Quatre was curious about the Chinese man who had gone to USA to meet a future wife. That was nothing you hear of every day, much less met one who had to go through something like that. Hadn't he said that he was going to meet, what was her name. . . Long Meiran. . . today?  
  
Duo Maxwell was much easier to read, at least in Quatre's option. He seemed like a friendly, if rather loud youth who was happy as long as everybody else was. The fact that he had to work to get money showed that he had rather rough finances, but there was many who had in that age, especially those who was living away from home. Quatre liked him, he decided.  
  
Trowa Barton. Quatre frowned to himself and sipped on his too-hot-tea thoughtfully, succeeding in burning his tongue. That boy was strange. Plain. . . strange. But then again. . . he had amazingly green eyes that forced Quatre to swallow so he wouldn't drool every time they made eye- contact. . .  
  
*******  
  
To be continued. . .  
  
*******  
  
The part with Ryan and Quatre was rather corny, but we're going to see more of Ryan later. (Please don't hate me for making another OC. )  
  
I keep thinking about Wufei and Meiran as Benedikt and Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing. . . *snicker.* It's one of my favourite-movies (along with Ringu, Sixth Sense, Kenshin OAV, Rush Hour. . . Okay, I'll shut up now. ^_^)  
  
Next part: You'll read about how and where Duo gets a job, and how Wufei's and Meiran's 'date' turned out. Maybe even some Duo/Heero interaction. *big grin* 


End file.
